Indoor vs outdoor records
Recently, I read an article about a new women’s indoor marathon record. The new time seemed really fast (to me), and the article mentioned part of the reason for that (after talent and hard work, of course) was that it was on a controlled indoor track – cool temps, no winds, no hills, yadda yadda. Edited to add – I cannot find the original article, but luckily xaarlin (I had shared the article with her) remembers the mention of lack of wind resistance, etc. And also remembers the lady said she had crazy leg cramps because of running in the same direction forever.
It got me thinking – the elites differentiate between indoor and outdoor records – should amateurs as well?! If you got a new indoor PR, (personal record) would you think of it as a separate type of PR than an outdoor one for the same distance? Or would it replace that outdoor number?
Hmm, my brother-in-law recently ran this cool 5K in a cave! Does that count as indoor or outdoor? Indoor since his Garmin didn’t work (and funny – Garmin was a sponsor!) or outdoor since it’s not a controlled environment? Ha ha.
I don’t have much experience running indoors. I didn’t really think it was “my thing,” so before, I wouldn’t heavily consider an indoor race. But I thoroughly enjoyed running 7 miles indoors with my dad a few weeks ago, and Rachel made her recent indoor half sound so fun! Maybe with the right company, I would like it!
But I do think if I was training to PR an indoor race (which I doubt I would do, but I should answer my own question, right?!) I’d probably recognize it as a separate PR. Probably. Maybe if it was really epic (for me), it would make me want to try the outdoor distance shortly after the indoor race, to see where I stand.
(Ha ha. Not that running is only about PRs! It’s mostly about fun for me!)
Themocracy
Oh man, I never thought of that! My two fastest 5Ks are 35:31 and 35:17. The faster one is actually the Warm Your Heart 5K indoor run at McCormick place in the city. It wasn’t a track but it was indoors – it actually did have some inclines and varying temps though, so I dunno!
Interesting thought. This is the most useless comment ever but I have no idea! As a sidenote though, I love the idea of running in a cave. I saw recently that there’s a cave trail marathon in San Antonio where the medal is a slice of a geode and loved that idea.
That is interesting – what was the McCormick race like that it had inclines? Up ramps in hallways and stuff?
That is not a useless comment. I am asking opinions, so none is invalid 😉
Aww man, that sounds cool! There is a rail-to-trail marathon in WI that goes though a lot of tunnels and sounds so cool to me!
Ramps in the hallways that connected the buildings! I actually really liked the course but it is very expensive for a 5K – I had a free entry last year but found when looking to repeat that it’s $60 for a 5K. Eep!
That sounds really cool too! Man I want to do something really novel like that.
Actually that reminds me. Do you have any recommendations for a cool fall marathon? I decided I -am- going to do my first this year and I don’t want it to be the big chicago one. I was thinking the des plaines river trail race since it’s in my backyard but figured I’d ask a pro! 🙂
Neat! That would be fun to try out. Was it crowded at all? Yikes, that is way too much $$$ for a 5K!
I think the Milwaukee Marathon is absolutely fantastic. Some people think it’s hilly, though, so you’d have to train for that. I have not run the DPRT marathon. I have run the trails there a ton, and think it would be good for a lowkey first marathon. Milwaukee would have the big race feel without the crowds and stress. And it’s beautiful. They will probably cap out earlier this year, due to the Chicago lottery.
They cap it at 3,000 I think – it didn’t feel crowded. They released us in waves by pace and I really liked it. The sucky part was the first mile was literally like…how do I describe it…you know waiting in line in a big building where they put ropes from one end of the room to the other and you go back and forth and back and forth? That was unfortunately the first part, but the rest I really liked and it never felt too congested to me. But yes, way too much money for a 5K – if I’d had to pay I definitely wouldn’t have been running it! 😮
Milwaukee is definitely a place I want to race in, but I’m not sure I want to mix hills and marathon for a first maraton experience! Maybe I’m best off sticking with the dprt, they told me last year it’s a good one for a newbie.
And hah, that’s the other reason I don’t want to do Chicago – I am not lucky and would be super unlikely to get a slot, hah!
I think whoever ran a marathon indoors deserves some sort of a special platinum medal. I can’t even imagine how mentally tough that would be unless there was some really huge indoor track. I can’t imagine doing that many laps on a regular indoor track. I think I could do an indoor race if I was running with someone and I could talk to them, otherwise, I think I’d go bonkers.
Yeah, I think I would have to be with someone, and talking to, and that is not really how I PR, so I am not sure I would go through it for a record!
I’ve done the indoor half in Milwaukee 3 times, and yeah, it’s pretty hard. Luckily up at the Petit, they have cool music and an announcer who talks the whole time, and kids skating, so there are plenty of distractions!
But the people who do the Gold Medal Challenge? (Half on Sat, Full on Sun)… they are the real crazy ones, haha.
I thought the announcer and music and distractions seemed fun!
Ha ha ha. Whatever, come on, you would do it! 🙂
I dont think the women’s indoor marathon record is that “fast” at 2:53, considering the women’s marathon world record is 2:15… Just seems like the more “serious” marathoners probably wouldnt do something like run 200+ times around a loop indoors for a “record.” And of course not to say that indoor marathoner lady wasnt serious- but i’m talking about the women that win the big money races with sub 2:30 performances…
Anyways.. I wouldn’t count the indoor 5k vs outdoor 5k as separate. The distance is the same- and I think the conditions could be better outside.(stuffy and too warm indoors?) of course they could always be worse… I guess you can always put an asterisk next to the results to denote indoor, outdoor or underground.. And as you mentioned if you PR’d at the indoor one, it would be really interesting to do the same distance outside within a week or 2 to see how the times compare.
A CAVE RACE?!?! Now that deserves a category all its own! I want to see photos from that one. 🙂
I am really happy you left this comment, because I looked back to the article I sent you and then could not find the one that talked about the indoor advantages, just the one I sent you about the 2:53 (which seems really fast to me, ha!). I edited the post to say that. I wonder if I am confusing it with something I recently read about Galen Rupp? Either way, it does seem that the elites differentiate their indoor and outdoor track and their road races… right? I wonder what would happen if the elites all ran an indoor marathon 😉
I dont think you were confused.. maybe? maybe not? 🙂 2:53 is a great time, just not super human elite hehe I thought that article touched briefly on the advantages of indoors… hmm.. I still want to see cave race photos.
Ha ha, after you wrote me I unedited it because you supported what I said buah ha ha. If you remember it too…
Andrew didn’t send me any pics, but here is a link to the official ones! 🙂 http://www2.backprint.com/actionsportsimages/123043/browse
I’ve often thought that I know if I had the motivation I could make myself run a sub 7 min mile on a treadmill. I hardly ever run one single mile so I am not sure how it would go, but I can usually set and keep a pace on a treadmill. But then I ask myself why would I do that? To prove to myself I can do it? Meh-I don’t need that. When I think of running indoors I think of 8x around a tiny track = a mile and I want to die. This girl would rather run up mountains than set a record doing something boring!
I am more out an outdoorsy runner gal too. But maybe running indoors is not boring to those people trying to set a record 🙂 I know quite a few people who seem to like it 🙂
Interesting question. Initially I was going to say that conditions would definitely favor an indoor race, but Xaarlin brings up a good point that outdoor conditions could very well be better. (I for one, am all about fresh outdoor air when I am running – I find it much more invigorating than indoor air!) But hey – there is so much differentiation when it comes to outdoor races, too. A lot of people probably wouldn’t differentiate PRs on a tough, hilly outdoor course in horrible weather conditions versus on a fast, flat outdoor course in perfect weather. So I say why draw the line at indoors versus outdoors? That is my two cents!
Ha ha, they might not differentiate it, but I bet they would wonder, after that PR on the tough hilly course, how they could do on a flat one! 🙂
Interesting. I’ve never even considered an indoor race (never seen one advertised in my area). I think some kids participated in indoor track in high school but I wasn’t one of them. Outdoor track was boring enough for me.
I honestly think it is hard to even compare outdoor races to each other, or even the same race from year to year. There is so much that can affect your performance on any day.
I don’t know if I would count it as a separate PR. I feel like I often get some advantages when running a course that isn’t ‘flat’ because you get to kick it into different gears when cruising down a downhill/pushing up a hill/running into the wind/wind at your back. When you don’t ever have to adjust for weather/elevation changes then you are using the same effort the whole time (presumably) which, to me, can be more exhausting than making adjustments throughout the race. (Love me a good long downhill…haha!)
Ahh, yeah, that is an interesting way of looking at it! Isn’t it crazy that some marathon records aren’t records, because of the downhill of the course?! GEESH, so many RULEZ!!!